THE GINGERBREAD MAN:

An old woman was baking one day, and she made some gingerbread. She had some
dough left over, so she made the shape of a little man. She made eyes for him, a nose
and a smiling mouth all of currants, and placed more currants down his front to look
like buttons.
Then she laid him on a baking tray and put him into the oven to bake.
After a little while, she heard something rattling at the oven door. She opened it and to
her surprise out jumped the little gingerbread man she had made. She tried to catch him
as he ran across the kitchen, but he slipped past her, calling as he ran:

-"Run, run, as fast as you can, you cant catch me, Im the gingerbread man!"
She chased after him into the garden where her husband was digging. He put down his
spade and tried to catch him too, but as the gingerbread man sped past him he called
over his shoulder:
- "Run, run, as fast as you can, you cant catch me, Im the gingerbread man!"
As he ran down the road he passed a cow. The cow called out,-"Stop, gingerbread man!
You look good to eat!"
But the gingerbread man laughed and shouted over his shoulder:-"Ive run from an old
woman and an old man. Run, run, as fast as you can, you cant catch me, Im the
gingerbread man!"
The cow ran after the old woman and the old man, and soon they all passed a horse.
-"Stop!" called out the horse, "Id like to eat you."
But the gingerbread man called out:

"Ive run from an old woman and an old man, and a cow! Run, run, as fast as you can,
you cant catch me, Im the gingerbread man!"
He ran on, with the old woman and the old man and the cow and the horse following,
and he went past a party of people haymaking. They all looked up as they saw the
gingerbread man, and as he passed them he called out:-"Ive run from an old woman,
And from an old man, and a cow and a horse. Run, run, as fast as you can, you cant
catch me, Im the gingerbread man!"
The haymakers joined in the chase behind the old woman and the old man, the cow and
the horse, and they all followed him as he ran through the fields.
There he met a fox, so he called out to the fox:
"Run, run, as fast as you can, you cant catch me, Im the gingerbread man!"
But the sly said:
-"Why should I bother to catch you?" although he thought to himself, "That gingerbread
man would be good to eat."
Just after he had run past the fox the gingerbread man had to stop because he came to a
wide, deep, swift-flowing river. The fox saw the old woman and the old man, the cow,
the horse and the haymakers all chasing the gingerbread man so he said,
-"Jump on my back, and Ill take you across the river!"
The gingerbread man jumped on the foxs back and the fox began to swim. As they
reached the middle of the river, where the water was deep, the fox said,
- "Can you stand on my head, Gingerbread Man, or you will get wet."
So the gingerbread man pulled himself up and stood on the foxs head. As the current
flowed more swiftly, the fox said, "
- Can you move on to my nose, Gingerbread Man, so that I can carry you more safely? I
would not like you to drown."
The gingerbread man slid on to the foxs nose. But when they reached the bank of the
river, the fox suddenly went snap! The gingerbread man disappeared into the foxs
mouth, and was never seen again.
THE END

THE LITTLE RED HEN:

Once upon a time there was a little red hen. She lived with a pig, a duck and a cat. They
all lived in a pretty little house which the little red hen liked to keep clean and tidy. The
little red hen worked hard at her jobs all day.
The others never helped. Although they said they meant to, they were all far too lazy.
The pig liked to grunt in the mud outside, the duck used to swim in the pond all day,
and the cat enjoyed lying in the sun, purring.

One day the little red hen was working in the garden when she found a grain of corn.
-"Who will plant this grain of corn?" she asked.
-"Not I," grunted the pig from his muddy patch in the garden.
-"Not I," quacked the duck from her pond.
-"Not I," purred the cat from his place in the sun.
So the little red hen went to look for a nice bit of earth, scratched it with her feet and
planted the grain of corn.
During the summer the grain of corn grew. First it grew into a tall green stalk, then it
ripened in the sun until it had turned a lovely golden colour. The little red hen saw that
the corn was ready for cutting.
- "Who will help me cut the corn?" asked the little red hen.
- "Not I," grunted the pig from his muddy patch in the garden.
- "Not I," quacked the duck from her pond.
- "Not I," purred the cat from his place in the sun.

- "Very well then, I will cut it myself," said the little red hen.
Carefully she cut the stalk and took out all the grains of corn from the husks.
- "Who will take the corn to the mill, so that it can be ground into flour?" asked the little
red hen.
-"Not I," grunted the pig from his muddy patch in the garden.
-"Not I," quacked the duck from her pond.
- "Not I," purred the cat from his place in the sun.

So the little red hen took the corn to the mill herself, and asked the miller if he would be
so kind as to grind it into flour. In time the miller sent a little bag of flour down to the
house where the little red hen lived with the pig and the duck and the cat.
-"Who will help me to make the flour into bread? asked the little hen.
- "Not I," grunted the pig from his muddy patch in the garden.
- "Not I," quacked the duck from her pond.
- "Not I," purred the cat from his place in the sun.
- "Very well," said the little red hen. "I shall make the bread myself."
She went into her neat little kitchen. She mixed the flour into dough. She kneaded the
dough and put it into the oven to bake.
Soon there was a lovely smell of hot fresh bread. It filled all the corners of the house
and wafted out into the garden. The pig came into the kitchen from his muddy patch in
the garden, the duck came in from the pond and the cat left his place in the sun.
When the little red hen opened the oven door the dough had risen up and had turned into
the nicest, most delicious looking loaf of bread any of them had seen.
- "Who is going to eat this bread?" asked the little red hen.
- "I will," grunted the pig. "I will," quacked the duck.
- "I will," purred the cat.
- "Oh no, you wont," said the little red hen.

"I planted the seed, I cut the corn, I took it to the mill to be made into flour, and I made
the bread, all by myself. I shall now eat the loaf all by myself."
The pig, the duck and the cat all stood and watched as the little red hen ate the loaf all
by herself. It was delicious and she enjoyed it, right to the very last crumb.
THE END

THE MAN ON THE MOON:

Once upon a time there was a little man who was very
sad because he had spaceship but he didn't know what
to do with it.
- Can you help him?
- What could he do with his spaceship?

Then, he decided to go to the moon and flew, and flew

until be got there.
- So, where is he now?

As he had never been on the moon, he wasn't sure about

what he could do there, so he thought and thought
inside his spaceship.
- What do you think he decided to do?

Of course, the little man thought that he had done such

a long trip because he wanted to visit the moon, so he
decided to go outside for a walk. And he was walking
and walking, and walking until he meet a
- What do you think he met?

Oh! Yes! He met a dinosaur and as they made very

good friends, the little man decided to stay in the moon
to live with his new friend in a beautiful tent he had in
the spaceship. And since then this little man is know as

"The man on the moon".

END

THE GHOSTLY VILLAGE:

The night was rainy; a big storm was falling on the sea. The waves were enormous and
the fog was thick. The ships rocked one side to the other as marionettes.
Suddenly, an awful creaking was heard in the darkness. A big cloud of smoke was seen
in the distance and an intense odour could be noticed in the air. Everybody was
wondering what had happened.

A ship had ran aground near the shore and had split part of the petrol it carried. A big
black stain spreaded on the water, as a big black cloak which had the sea gone into
mourning. The smell of petrol was each time stronger and mixed with the freshness of
the breeze each sunset near the beach. Charles and Anne used to go watching the
stars.When they felt that freedom that only those who have not betrayed their ideals
feel. They were the children of a fisher and lived in a humble white house very near
from the cliff.
The fishers had recently had problems to fish, fishing was not very good. Now, it would
be worse, there would not be anything in many time. Fishers will not be seen carrying
fish to the harbour. They could not be said goodbye as it was usual. Now they will have
to go far, to be able to live.
The village became a village without people. A ghostly village. Just a few women and
children remained there. Men and young people went to look for a job and came back
once in a while to see their families. At nightfall, a few lights, brought the village back
to existence.
But from the cliff the view was not the same, it seemed that even the breeze had
changed of place. The air smell of petrol and the seas calm had turned to a terrible

anguished seeing how all the sea life was being destroyed. Dead fishes floated and all
was devastating. The few people who remained, started to rebuild and clean all that had
been damaged.
Some years passed until the village returned to normal. Some of who had left returned
and the boats returned to the harbour. Hope was born again with the fear that the story
would repeat.
THE END